Archtop Ukulele

[lauburu]

In an inspired moment last Christmas, my beloved bought me a “build your own ukulele” voucher from a local luthier, Trevor Binford. Trevor, having worked for Bob Benedetto, is a skilled archtop maker so the voucher was really a “build your own archtop ukulele” voucher. Trevor was somewhat bemused as to why anyone would want an archtop ukulele and figured “how hard could it be?” Obviously we were both in for a big learning curve.

Over 114 hours between February and November this year, in Trevor’s workshop, the instrument slowly took shape and we both learned a lot. I learned that I will never make another archtop ukulele and Trevor learned he should never agree to teach anyone else how to make an archtop ukulele. Even with a few uke builds under my belt, this was just another level of difficulty and complexity.
However, the result is very gratifying. It looks great and it sounds even better. I have a number of ukuleles, big brands, lesser brands and self made. This beats them all hands down – no contest. Sound clip to come.

Specs are: Flamed maple back and sides; birds eye maple neck; sitka spruce top; Ebony fretboard, tailpiece & headplate, plastic BWB binding, Waverly tuners.

I think strings are going to be very important as the sound is so rich and much more mellow than I anticipated. Current strings are Aquila with a wound 3rd & 4th (low G tuning). I have a number of experiments to do with Living Water strings, South Coast and Aquila reds. Also more experimentation to do with lightening the bridge to see how that affects tone.
Miguel

[lauburu]

Some build pictures

[lauburu]

More build pictures

[lauburu]

But wait there's more

[lauburu]

Last ones

[Allen]

Mate..........that's a thing of beauty. I'm more than impressed.

A real testament to your dogged determination to complete that. I've started a couple of them, and just can't bring myself to finish them off because of so much time involved in them with little chance anyone will pay a suitable price.

Well done indeed.

[Localele]

Nice one Miguel and just in time for Xmas.
The "force" is still strong in this one Allen.

[kiwinoz62]

Miguel,

That's awesome, choooice bro'

[lauburu]

Thanks Allen and Micheal for your kind comments. Praise indeed from such esteemed uke makers.

Bob: it's a 17" tenor though the body's a bit bigger than most tenors. I would say the whole thing was hard as building requires an entirely different way of thinking - anyone contemplating such an adventure should really get guidance from an expert - as I did. The hardest part would have to be the carving of the rock hard maple back with tiny thumb planes. My blisters even had blisters. Carving the arches and the recurve was also pretty scarey as I was in constant terror of carving right through the plates. Bending the cutaway wasn't much fun - we had to have 2 goes to get it right. In the end we thinned it right down and then, once it was bent, we reinforced it on the inside. Suggest you give the cutaway a miss on your first attempt.
Miguel

[Mark McLean]

Hi Miguel.
The uke looks awesome. Very individual.
And I love the idea of the go-bar deck under the bench. I have never seen that before. Great space saver.
Mark

[Nick]

Now that's all class! Beautiful job Miguel and to build under the tutelage of somebody who knows their way around archtops, as Trevor must, I'm jealous muchly! Top job
What sort of thickness did you end up with in the recurve do you think? I can understand some of the problems you faced, getting that top moving with only 4 Nylon strings powering it. My hats off to you, not only with the craftsmanship shown but the balls to give this a go in the first place!

[lauburu]

Hopefully the soundclip will play if you click on the link below:
https://soundcloud.com/lauburu/archtop-sound-clip

As I don't have any tame virtuoso uke players at hand, I had to do the demo myself. Try to ignore the mistakes and focus on the sound.
Miguel

[Allen]

That sounds fantastic Miguel. Very clean and immediate, great tone.....and your playing aint bad either.

[kiwigeo]

The bit on the end of the message was meant to be a smiley clapping but that did not quite work did it.

Fixed

[kiwigeo]

Nice work Miguel.....a classy looking instrument.

[lauburu]

Thanks for all the positive comments, everyone. Much appreciated.

What sort of thickness did you end up with in the recurve do you think?

Recurve should be about 2 - 2.5mm but that's where the assistance of an experienced builder comes in. I would carve and Trevor would flex the top/bottom until he was satisfied with the way it felt. A bit more off here, a bit more of there. I was in a constant state of anxiety that all my carving would end up as over-flexed toothpicks but he'd done it all a hundred times before.
Enthusiasm is good, a set of plans is also good, but there's no substitute for experience.
Miguel

[DarwinStrings]

Nice one, slick, jazzed up ukulele.